Races for city, county offices need labels

It is time to rethink keeping these races "nonpartisan" when they are, in fact, closely watched and sometimes heavily influenced by one political party or the other.

OUR VIEW

Volusia County leaders and state lawmakers need to reconsider how local candidates are listed on ballots. Officials should consider adding party affiliation next to the names of city and county candidates. Such information will be on the ballot on Nov. 6 for voters as they choose for president, U.S. senator, and the U.S. House of Representatives. But in many Volusia County choices, the voter will not know the party affiliation of the candidates. Voters won't know party affiliations in the races for Daytona Beach mayor, Volusia County Council, Volusia County chair and Volusia County sheriff. For whatever reason, local charters have deigned this information unimportant. It is not. It is time to rethink keeping these races "nonpartisan" when they are, in fact, closely watched and sometimes heavily influenced by one political party or the other. Voters should be aware of this — and ballot identification would help. Florida laws regarding identifying candidates by party are a mess. State law mandates that school board elections be nonpartisan. County commission seats are partisan races unless a county charter says otherwise, according to Chris Cate, spokesman for Florida's Department of State. (Twenty of the 67 counties in Florida are charter counties.) And city races can be partisan or nonpartisan, depending upon the city charter. In Section 904 of the Volusia County charter, it is thus mandated: "All candidates' names shall be placed on the ballot without reference to political party affiliation." In Flagler County this year, the ballot will identify candidates by party in the county commission and sheriff races. It's a tale of two counties: Flagler voters will have more information about their county candidates, and Volusia County voters will have less. It's that simple. This also diminishes direct party involvement in local races, which is not healthy. Political parties should be allowed to get more directly involved. If party labels are important bits of information in the election of our governor and state lawmakers, then they should be displayed on the ballot for all policymaking officials. Party affiliation is an important bit of information. Candidates in so-called nonpartisan races will sit on city commissions or county councils — or in mayor's offices — making policy. Ideology and party affiliation are bases for policy, so the voters should have an idea of what kind of thinker they are electing. Of course, there are offices where there is less policymaking and more administration involved, such as county clerk and election supervisor. Those should be nonpartisan races, throughout the state. Keeping partisan politics out of the judicial system is also desirable. Many grumble that parties have too much influence. They would appeal to cynicism and argue that many races should be kept nonpartisan — suggesting that the less the voters know about the motivations of the candidates, the better. It just isn't so. Like it or not, parties are part of the fabric of American democracy, despite the fact that President George Washington — our only unaffiliated president — disliked them. Saying farewell to the nation, Washington warned of the "baneful effects of the spirit of party." Here, Washington was generally wrong. Parties allow candidates and voters to rally around common ideas and platforms, from conservatism to liberalism and more. This is true in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, where there are generally strong liberal parties and strong conservative parties. There are also strong third parties in many states. These parties often accomplish things because they promote shared ideas and ideals, not because they shy away from them. The Republicans abolished slavery. The Democrats established Social Security. So let's stop pretending. The Republican and Democratic parties have already issued their endorsements for many nonpartisan races, including Daytona Beach mayor and the Volusia County Council District 2 race between Josh Wagner and Nancy Epps. Identifying the candidates by party would better inform the voters. If it works in races for Congress and the Florida Legislature, it should work for all of Florida's city and county governments.